Storm names

The practice of giving storms personal names appears to have 1 with Clement Wragge, an Australian meteorologist who in the 1890s entertained himself by naming storms after women, mythical 2, and politicians that he didn’t like. The modern system of using personal names developed during World War II, when meteorologists began using women’s names—often those of wives or girlfriends—instead of 3 designations based on latitude and longitude. Short and quickly understood, names were easier to 4 over the radio and easier to keep straight if there was more than one storm in a given area. The system was 5 in 1953 when the National Weather Service put together an alphabetical list of female names to be used for storms in the Atlantic basin. Male names were added to the list in 1979 when women’s groups pointed out the sexism of using only female names.